Wichita eagle., 1887-10-19
THE RAILROAD MIND.
GROWING DEMAND FOR A NEW
KIND OF MENTAL APTITUDE.


Ouickness to Act and . Patience to Mas
ter Detail-Origin OF Railway sfaugh-
ters-A Farmer Boys Fatal Mistake
Good Management
The railway when 1t came into the
human world brought demand for q
new kind of mental force or aptitude
The railway man from the president to
the brakeman must possess a auickness
to perceive, q quickness to act and
patience TO master detail; an omission of
a task may cost great sums or may de-
stroY life. When superintendent passes
over his road in q private Car and ex-
anfnes the track and bridges while he is
moving at the rate of thirty miles an
hour, he Is not necessarily q criminal, he
may be only an intellectual imbecile. He
should be removed from railway service
and be commended to the task Of super
vision Of an OK or pack horse service. One
day some men were moving weeds, nail
ing up loose boards and embarrassing at
q railway station, and confessed the mo-
tive OF such industry was to be found in
the fact that the superintendent was to
the kind Of lightning inspection that
would be made by their chef
In the history Of national banks one
can read the shallow import of the word
'inspection," but there the mental weak
Hess Of an inspector costs the country
money and not life. For bank to fail in
a few days after having been pronounced
unusually sound is an event not wholly
unknown; but the depositors are not
killed nor mangled. 1t is in railroad
work mental weakness assumes its most
dangerous shape. A facile lax, easy
going mind may in the railway profession
become as fatal as a can Of dynamite or
en- earthquake.
A NEW FORM OF MIND.
Many railway slaughters have resulted
from the slowness of educational pro-
cesses. The new iron road has created q
demand for a new form OF mind, but it
cannot ct once supply the demand. Mr..
Galloway, one of the most conscientious
and ideal railway men on the continent,
said once that each passenger train which
runs from Chicago to New York must pass
through the hands of 500 men who arc vida
awake to each duty. When one ponders
upon this statement, and remembers how
difficult it is to find 500 capable men in a
single row, the wonder comes that train
ever passes over /, 600 mile path without
being wrecked Or injured.
Why should the public, which cannot
inspect q bank or q milk can, ral at tho
men who come only tolerably near In
specting q railway? The railway is help
ing to make better kind Of brain, but
brain is Of slow growth. A eolo-ed man
was recently asked at what time the cars
passed his cabin. and his reply was that
they went north il the morning and south
in the afternoon. To lead such q man I'D
TO a conception Of such divisions of time
as eco or $40 or 5:15, would be IN educa-
tionai task Of no little weight. To give
such . mortal a place upon railway
would be criminal, for il he did not Kill
others he would soon kill himself
Only last week one of these boys Of the
farm, allured by false vanity to seek rail,
way work. met his death because Of men
tai laXness. He WIS made switchnlan az
a village station. The sole Of ono shoe
became unsewed. Thus was he made IL
ablo to be thrown down. He took tbs
risk from day to day. At last, as he set
a switch and stepped quickly, his shoe
solo caught on . spike head and death
came quickly. His method with his shoes
On the farm failed as method for the
new surroundings.
QUACK RAILROAD MEX.
The educational power Of the railway h
kept back by the pitiable truth that
many OF its officials are not students Of q
great aTS, bus are only spectators In land
or stocks, when not absolute thieves.
Quack railroad men ore more numerous
than ouack doctors Good men are dis
charged to make room for fayorites, and
thus fortunes and life ara placed ut the
mercy of unframed minds. In the army
q colonel was displaced that sone cousin
of the generals might have the position.
When the new colonel rode out to exercise
the boys at arms be told them Ito do as
they had done yesterday"
The railway service rs no doubt suffer
ing much from the presence Of officials
who know moro about money and luxury
than they know about bridges and road
beds. Under the rule Of these captains
the receipts from all traffic flow toward
New York, and soon the bank account is
large and the road worn out and danger
GUS. The income is the main thing, the
art nothing.
Some roads are managed by railway art.
The president himself could run loccmo-
tive or construct 4 bridge or keep awake
at switch. These roads are under the
control OF the railway intellect, and not Of
the champagne nnd private car genius.
May the time soon come when SO tTernen-
dous thing as the railway shall be man
aged by the new kind Of intellectual force
called railway brain--DRvid Swing in
lbicarn Journal